Building a tablet/touch screen media center for my Autistic son - advice please?

[stevetwood]

I'm looking for advice please. My 20 year autistic old son lives full-time 150 miles away from us in a specialist college that caters for his very complex self-harming needs, he has no verbal language but is able to somehow make his needs known through signing or otherwise. He likes to retreat to his bedroom when things get too much for him in the college and he really enjoys a selection of Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds and Disney VHS videos and DVDs. Trouble is, when he handles a DVD he gets sticky marks all over it and the way DVDs work is that you need to make multiple selections with the remote control to start the movie, which he's not capable of doing on his own, so he gets frustrated with it all and ends up either biting or scratching the DVD or damaging it in some way so that it doesn't play anymore. The videos get damaged through playing and he struggles to rewind them and not all his carers understand his sign for 'rewind my video please'. This leads to frustration too. Here's what I am trying to build for him, and wondered if the good folks here can advise me or point me in the right direction. I want to build a tablet based media center for him where he can access a touch screen with a series of icons that correspond to any one of his favourite films - he likes a core of 10 to 20 films, maximum, I want him to be simply able to touch an icon on the screen that represents one of his favourite movies and kicks off that movie with one touch and outputs the movie via HDMI straight to his TV. The system would have to boot-up straight to this movie selection screen for him. What android based platform would folks suggest here? It needs to be touch type interface, with a built in USB or HDMI or TV output, an android type device with either an on-board HDD disk or SS memory - I would like to have up to 64GB disk or SS Memory? Is android robust as an OS as he or his carers aren't always capable of a multi-step shut-down procedure, it needs to be switched on or off at the wall - that level of robustness without damamging the OS or system.I have never ripped DVDs before, obviously the choice of DVD ripping software would depend upon the OS on the selected touch screen platform, anyone have any ideas here? Cost isn't too much of an issue, but hoping spend less than 1000 GB pounds USD $1,500.Thanks for the advice

 

[Ricollie]

There are windows based options with touch capabilities. Android operating system I think could handle it I think the problem with that would be hardware issue instead
Sent from my VTAB1008 using Android Tablet Forum

 

[Beno]

Hello Steve, I believe your idea is completely feasible and can be acomplished realitively frugally if you are willing to program the shortcuts and automated functions yourself. There are a great number of options for automating playback on PCs or tablets, as well as customiztion features within media stream paysites i.e. netflix and hulu-- that allow you to view movies with little to no user input. Instantly accessing movies through a customized interface will be the simplest task of your endeavor, as it only requires farting around with the settings of the device and/or programs you are ultimately going to use. Slightly more daunting is finding the appropriate computer or tablet. While most high end tablets are capable of this type of customization, their high price and frailty lead me to believe they may not be the best choice for you. I can not venture a guess in this post as to what system/setup would be optimal, as i would need to determine your son's mobility and cognitive capabilities before making any suggestions. However, I can assure you that with a bit of foresight and planning you will be able to create exactly what your son needs. Feel free to send me a private message, or if not, here is a quick list of things to keep in mind when you are brainstorming.
1. mobility- do u want something attached to a specific chair or bed,ssomething handheld, or a wall mounted device? nowadays everything is available with a touch screen interface so u have agreat deal of options. you mentioned needing an hdmi output so i take it u have an hdtv/monitor already installed or in mind.
2. Speak to someone who works in networking as they may be able to explain and configure remote access features which will allow you to configure and troubleshoot the system as well as communicate with your sonfrom your home computer. You can also change file locations and shortcuts remotely from your PC making it easy to add delete movies
There was more but my tablet is out of battery, as i said, feel free to contact me via PM if u wish, and if u find a solution, post here in ur thread